We’re fortunate to have access to some of the best medical centres in the world. And in Leaside, we’re especially fortunate to be sitting on the doorstep of one of the greatest hospitals in the country, the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

Sunnybrook has just launched a powerful fundraising campaign using the photography of two renowned combat photographers, Ron Haviv and Christopher Morris, who have spent their careers on the front lines of war zones. They spent seven days at the hospital capturing unfiltered, stunning black and white photos bringing to life “the breathtaking stories of people at the frontlines of healthcare.”

“Where Impossible Becomes I’m Possible” is the theme of the campaign at this “hospital of hospitals,” so-called for receiving patients from other hospitals around the city that require acute care or more specialized treatment.

With over 60,000 visits to the emergency room in 2015-2016 in addition to patients being treated in every imaginable specialty area, it’s likely that most Leasiders have at one time or another visited Sunnybrook. (Full disclosure, our family was sure they would be renaming the ER the “Archie McKay Wing” in honour of my father, who, in his injury-prone life, has broken his back twice, his neck once, pretty much every other bone in his body, has a permanent dent in his head from when he forgot he left a hammer on the roof at the cottage only to have it slide down onto his head as he descended the ladder, and has cut off the tip of the same finger twice while using a bandsaw. But I digress).

Image: Ron Haviv.

Leasider Antoinette Zichy recounts the care she received after discovering her diagnosis of cervical cancer. “When I first received news of my condition, I was terrified. But the doctors and the nurses were incredibly calming, reassuring, and kind. They discussed treatment with me and took my opinion into consideration.” Now cancer-free, Zichy recalls women she met in the hospital who had come from other corners of the province. She remembers sitting in the waiting room and thinking, “I literally walked here. I feel so blessed to be so close to such great care.”

Leasiders not only access the hospital as patients but many residents also work in various capacities at the centre.

Carla Findlater, clinical pharmacist in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and a Parkhurst resident, notes, “What makes Sunnybrook so amazing are the people that work there and the patients we have the privilege of caring for. You look around Sunnybrook and you see every day the care providers who go above and beyond to ensure that their patients move from a place of impossible to I’m possible.”

For more information on the campaign, visit www.bringustheimpossible.ca.

Susan Scandiffio was born in Scotland and raised in Toronto. While she holds a master’s degree in history, her main passion (besides her wonderful family) is sports. Susan can often be found at the A.C.C. or in a Leaside arena or playing field, scoping out stories for Leaside Life.